Glance Up

Glance Up is a documentary about me, centered mainly around my participation at the World Dwarf Games and also around part of my daily life. I was part of all the production process, so that the story reflected my personality truthfully. I also recorded some of its scenes and I’m co-writer of its screenplay.

Glance Up was made possible thanks to a crowdfunding campaign. Here I copy the synopsis, goals, trailer and technical information from Verkami’s campaign site. In November 2014, Glance Up was first screened on cinemas and in March 2015 its Catalan version was aired on Catalonia’s national TV channel, TV3. If you’ve got the chance to watch it, don’t miss it, as it won’t leave you indifferent!

For more information on Glance Up, its film festival appearances and other scheduled screenings, you can follow all its related news on its Twitter feed and its Facebook page.

Synopsis

Joan Pahisa is 28 years old and has a huge passion: basketball. It would be nothing extraordinary except for a detail: he’s exactly one meter tall.

Last summer he took part in the World Dwarf Games in Michigan, USA, an olympic-style competition that’s held every four years exclusively for little people. Joan was the only representative from Spain because he couldn’t find anyone else to go with him. That’s why he specialized himself in table tennis, an individual sport.

He traveled 7.000 km to feel like at home and also to fulfill his dreams: to be World Champion in table tennis and, above all, to play basketball one more time, most probably the last.

His trip will show us how is the world seen from one meter tall. It’s not just about sports, it’s about life itself. About how he lives it and about how society treats him.r 7.000 quilòmetres per sentir-se com a casa. I també per a complir els seus somnis: ser campió del món de tennis taula i, per sobre de tot, jugar a bàsquet una vegada més, probablement la darrera.

On its own, Joan’s story is a universal story that everyone can feel identified with. It is positive and optimistic and it shows us that the most important is to fight for what we truly want despite all the hardships. Through sport, Joan’s demonstrates his determination and he hopes that his actions can help and inspire other people.

At the same time, it’s also a very important story for little people. Nowadays, most of the media appearances of people with dwarfism are usually in a comical context, in many cases degrading, that only increases the cultural stereotypes against dwarfs. Therefore, this documentary aims to show reality as it is to contribute to the normalization process of little people in society.